When the Memphis Grizzlies travel to Chicago on Sunday to play the play-in-hopeful Bulls, they will try to extend their recent hot streak.
Memphis (49-28) lost to the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday, snapping its seven-game winning streak. However, the Grizzlies recovered and defeated the Clippers the following game, 108-94.
Memphis enters Chicago having won 11 of its last 13 games and eight of its last nine. For second place in the Western Conference, the Grizzlies are two games ahead of Sacramento and two games behind Denver.
Memphis has contenders for individual honors making their cases in the final five games of the regular season in addition to the push for playoff positioning.
Following Jackson’s three blocks on Friday, Coach Taylor Jenkins argued for Jaren Jackson Jr. to be a contender for Defensive Player of the Year.
Jackson blocks 3.1 shots per game, the most in the NBA and 0.6 more than his closest rival. Through games played on Friday, Memphis has ranked third in the NBA in both opponent 2-point field goal percentage (51.9%) and opponent 2-point field goal goals per game (27.6%).
The Bulls (37-40) will hope to settle the Grizzlies guard in the first of five games to finish off their standard season.
After consecutive losses to the Clippers and Lakers, the Bulls bounced back with a 121-91 victory over Charlotte on Friday. This kept Chicago within a game of Atlanta and Toronto, who are currently in eighth and ninth place in the East, respectively.
Washington is three games behind the Bulls in the race for the final play-in spot and 10th place.
In the victory on Friday, Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan each scored 23 points, and Nikola Vucevic added 21 points. It was the second time in Chicago’s last five games that all three players scored at least 20 points.
However, the Bulls will require contributions from the rest of their roster if they are to secure a playoff spot.
Mentor Billy Donovan promoted the rotational unit of Ayo Dosunmu, Coby White, Andre Drummond and Patrick Williams following Friday’s success.
Williams is one of four Bulls who score at least 10.1 points per game on average. White contributes 9.4 points off the bench each game, and Dosunmu is averaging 8.7 points per game.
The veteran Drummond is adding 6.7 bounce back each game, second in the group.
